1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an appliance for applying a lotion to the skin, and more particularly to applying lotion, such as a sunscreen lotion, to the skin on a portion of a person's body that is difficult to access, allowing a person to apply sunscreen lotion to his or her own back.
2. Background of the Invention
The patent art includes a number of descriptions of devices including reservoirs for holding lotions, such as sunscreen products, and applicator pads, attached to elongated handles, in communication with the reservoirs, for application of the lotion to remote areas of the skin, such as a person's back. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,469 describes such a device including an elongated handle supporting a head with a flat applicator pad constructed of a sponge-like material. The head includes a reservoir that the user fills with the preferred tanning lotion, soap, or oil. A valve between a squeeze pump located at the end of the handle opposite the head allows the user to pressurize the reservoir, so that the lotion, soap, or oil is forced through exit apertures in the flat applicator pad. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,636 describes such a device including a hollow, flexible handle with a removable cap at one end for adding lotion and with an ellipsoidal or spherical structure at the other end, which is disposed within a socket of a dispensing head. The dispensing head, which is hollow, includes a reservoir for the receipt of liquid through orifices and a flat or concave bottom application surface.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,931,590 and 6,530,707 describe versions of such devices in which a piston operated from the handle is used to provide pressure within the reservoir to cause lotion to be fed from the reservoir to the applicator head. In the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,590, the applicator head includes an annular cylindrical sponge extending around a cylindrical reservoir having a number of holes through which the lotion is squeezed into the sponge. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,737 includes a flexible housing through which the piston is driven.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,077 describes a sunscreen lotion applicator including an applicator head member constructed in the form of a ball roll-on applicator, or alternatively as a cylindrical roller, or as a replaceable porous dauber that is covered with a chained cap. The applicator head connects with an elongated handle serving as a lotion container through a flexible bellows portion. The end of the handle opposite the applicator head includes a cap that is removed to fill the handle with lotion.
What is needed is an appliance for applying such fluids to the back without the inconvenient requirement that the fluids must first be poured into a reservoir within the appliance.
Other patents show disk-shaped sponge applicators attached to elongated handles. For example, U.S. Design Pat. No. D447,279 describes such a device having a handle that can be folded about a hinge mid-way along its length. U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,111 describes a compact holding a base plate to which a soft pad is attached, together with a collapsed telescoping handle, which is extended and removably attached to the base plate before using the pad to apply sunscreen lotion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,967 describes a process for applying cosmetic material to the skin, with the process including bringing a portion of the material into contact with the skin, bringing an applicator into contact with the material without substantial pressure in a direction toward the skin surface, and moving the applicator back and forth with an alternating motion along a path substantially parallel to the surface of the skin at a frequency such as 120 Hz.
What is needed is an applicator using a simple motion, such as rotation of a disk driven by a battery-powered motor, for applying a sunscreen lotion rapidly to a relatively large area, such as a person's back, together with an elongated handle for reaching remote areas, and a process for applying the lotion first to the applicator, and then to the skin.